On an expedition like this some days are endless as you travel between destinations covering hundreds of km. You can be on the road for 14 hours, pitching your tent in the dark either in a bush camp or if you've made your destination a proper campsite with good facilities. A basic shower is heaven, often sharing it with a frog or a couple of spiders, but you get used to it. Travelling for a few days with no facilities and nothing but a couple of wet wipes your body appears to self clean, there's no point putting on underarm or perfumes, you're perspiring so much it just runs out of you and anything scented will attract the mossies. These days are like completing a double shift at Carriage Gates, so have a heart, it's not easy !!!!
Seriously you have a lot of time to think about life, put it all in perspective and look forward to future plans. I'm missing Lu and my family like crazy and of course my good friends, you know who you are.... now don't get too excited Butty. I fill my down time obviously thinking, keeping the blogs updated, writing a diary, reading and of course enjoying the photography. Geoff and I also chat away about our respective families when we need too. So that's part of expedition life which is a fantastic way to see the real countries you are visiting. Occasionally you have the relax which is like Bonito, aqua relax but then it's back to serious business like the Southern Panatal, Brazil.
The Southern Panatal form part of the largest wetlands in the world covering 210,000 sq km. The jungle is not as dense as say the Amazon but this gives you a far better chance of spotting wildlife. We arrive at the Facienda Santa Clara after five hours drive the last section on dirt tracks avoiding the wooden bridges and taking the dry riverbeds instead. The camp looks great, as we pitch our tents in the airless 35 + heat and consists of a central structure which houses the kitchen, dining area, basic showers and toilets, and an area above covered in a massive mossie net which houses the hammocks for those that wish to use them. We are totally surrounded by wildlife, all manner of scavenging birds and over a thousand cayman are no more than 20 metres away in a partially dried riverbed, this is why the site is so clean.
We have a superb lunch prepared by the local bush guides wives, a full meal of meats, vegetables and desserts and are very pleased to learn its siesta time until 3.30 pm. I sleep under a rotunda in a hammock which was bliss. Lu we're definitely getting a hammock ! It's 3.30pm and ten of us are off into the back of a trailer pulled by a tractor through the bush led by our guide Tom who had incredible knowledge and tracking skills. He points out all manner of wildlife and fresh jaguar prints, which are common to the area. Eventually we pull up at the river and change mode of transport to a boat and have a fantastic few hours quietly chugging down river identifying bird life, especially six types of Kingfisher which I have never seen so many. We hit the bank and have a session of Piranha fishing, catching tomorrow's lunch. Vicious little beggars we are warned not to put any part of your body in the water. We arrive back totally worn out, in the dark, in time for dinner. What a day !
Woken at 0530 by the Howler monkeys and a full dawn chorus of every type of bird you can imagine, what a racket. Up for a cold shower which is bliss after being in a sauna all night and ready for today's activities which was trekking through the bush on horses..... Horse riding hmmm !! I checked over the horses which were lovely animals and declared I had no experience at riding. Ok no problem, I got Caramelo a steady, light brown, small horse. I mounted up and was pleased, this should be fine. We moved out in a line and Geoff was directly in front of me on a horse called "Pyscho" a good match and you can see where this is going. Immediately Pyscho's tail goes up and lets out the biggest fart you can imagine, what a stench, thanks Geoff, suppose there's no change there then. After 20 mins I felt pretty good, in control, and then it started, the canter. Oh my god the horse one way ie down and me the other, up, and then the meet, backside and family jewels bashed against the saddle for about an hour, until we stopped near a river. It appears my horse loves being at the front and will not let anyone overtake him, hence the continual canter...... great. I dismount, eyes watering, and asked if all ok, haaaaaa no problem as I sneak away for a stretch. We check the waters edge and find fresh jaguar prints, amongst a whole host of bird life.
Time to remount, right Caramello, I'm in charge, now lets behave. A quick pull back on the reins and he's up on his back two legs, shit, much laughing as he's back with all four hoofs on terra firma....it's ok I meant to do that ha ha. Pyscho starts to bite the other horses backsides much to Geoffs delight and encouragement, sending them all over the place. We ended up quite spread out in a line, me on my own probably 400 metres away from anyone else. We were ambling far too slowly so I've seen how they do it, can't be that hard. I took a firmer grip on the reins and decided to give him a dig in the ribs to encourage him. "DIG" Whoaaaa ! Shit we're off into a full gallop, bloody hell. Hanging on for dear life I hear the others laughing as we eat up the ground and reach the front in double quick time, he slows, I regain control and nonchantily state " that's better I just wanted to give him a run" !!! Where's the toilet paper ? Again ! My old grandad Docker would have been proud of me. Having dismounted and hobbled around like John Wayne I can honestly say it was a brilliant few hours. Siesta time x
That evening saw us engaged on a 5 hour jeep safari into the night which we saw endless wildlife and bird life yet again. A fantastic day but totally done in. I'll let the photographs do the talking.
Chau
Tony x
1. Siesta time !
2. Local cayman
3. Parakeets, hyacinth macaws, heron, kingfishers, etc
10. Moi with my piranha catch
11. You can't mess with these, the teeth are vicious.
12. Just look at what happened to Geoff
13. Me on Caramelo
14. Caramelo himself
15. Sunset and all the cayman surface, incredible sight
16. Sunset over cayman
17. Capybara, shy creatures in these parts
And there's lots more, too numerous for here, but I could bore you with a show at a later date ha ha
